Age
by 8ouji-Rui
Summary: She is 47, but they're young [Show Me The Love Summer Challenge 2018 Submission. Check out fanofthisfiction's profile page for more entries! ;)]


A/N: Heya! I'm back with another Nejiten. The sweet fanofthisfiction has asked authors around this web to join the Show Me The Love Summer Challenge 2018, and I decided to try my hand in it :). Ofc, me being my angsty self had a hard time trying to write a lighthearted, summery, entry...so I ended up with another angst. I am quite happy with this one tho, and I do hope you'd enjoy it too. Please visit fanofthisfiction's profile page to see more entries! They're awesome ;)

btw, this might be my last NejiTen entry for a while. Been really interested in Shunsui X Nanao pairing from bleach. They're a very minor pairing and need an extreme amount of love. T^T

Gotta post this now coz it's late and I guess a human needs to sleep lol.

Disclaimer:i don't own anything except the storyline

Edit: Extra thx to fanofthisfiction for the quick beta-read! :)

* * *

They were 12, and she's reluctant.

* * *

Today is the first day she met with her team. She glanced at her left and right...and realized that this is not going to work. First, there's the stuffy Hyuuga who refuses to say a word to any girl during their time in the academy. More so to a certain other Hyuuga girl whose name she does not remember. On her left is Lee, whom she did not know that well but heard that he is an idiot who doesn't have an aptitude for chakra at all. It's a wonder how he even graduates the academy.

Then there's her. _The average_ Tenten.

She waited for another five minutes for their new teacher to come. And he did…in a very unique way. Who would've called cartwheeling your way in is a normal way to show up?

The new teacher, Gai, proceeds to give a speech about youth ambitions and flowery anecdotes. For some reason, Lee was looking at him with tears in his eyes. When she glanced at the Hyuuga kid, he was closing his eyes and perhaps severely mutilating Gai in his mind.

 _This is not going to work, Tenten muses on her way back home._

* * *

They were 14, and she is ready.

* * *

Turns out, her crazy rag-tag team _does_ work well. With their own antics, they somehow managed to survive two years together and is now ready and confident to join the Chuunin exam. Lee has evolved into a mini-Gai, proclaiming youth and flowery anecdotes everywhere he goes.

The Hyuuga ( _Neji,_ she keeps reminding herself to remember his name) and she have somehow gotten along. He still doesn't respect her as an equal, but there's at least a mutual understanding between them. Since Gai is focused on Lee, they only have each other to train with.

"Good luck.", she said to him before his match. She was not exactly expecting a reply.

He nods and entered the arena.

None of them made Chuunin that year, but she got the respect she needs and learns that family is everything.

* * *

They were 16, and she fell.

* * *

They returned from their mission in Suna. Saving the Kazekage and with Team 7 turns out to be a lot trickier than she expected. However, her team did pretty well considering the circumstances. Tenten also got the rematch she deserves from Temari, which ends in a draw.

And she began to realize the gap between her and Neji.

She noticed this from years ago, back when they've just started. When she was foolish. When she thought she could be like Tsunade, and the world would be your bitch if you tried hard enough.

She noticed it right from the start, actually. There's a big difference between her and Neji. He's stuck-up and she is adaptable. She could be impatient and he is always level-headed. He has a huge family that he doesn't get along with, and she's all alone.

Neji is a genius, and she is just an average kunoichi with an aptitude to throw weapons.

But when she's feeling down and depressed with all these differences, he is always there to wait for her. After every training, when she's catching her breath on the ground, he is there to collect her weapons for her. When they're walking home from training, he'd always walk her home just because he wants to.

Neji, her heartless and stuck-up teammate, would always wait for her to catch up with him. No matter what.

So, as she ran to meet the rest of her team, she realized that perhaps falling down when you tried to cross that gap would be alright. As long as she keeps trying, he will be there to wait for her until she catches up.

And so she fell (for him).

* * *

They were 18, and she is positive.

* * *

"Hey, what are the chances of rain tomorrow?", she asked, chucking a kunai at the target over Neji's head. The sky was dark, and devoid of any star. Even the moon itself was covered by a thick cloud. _What a perfect night before a war_ , a simple musing pops up in her mind.

"I don't know, Tenten. Do I look like the weather guy?", he answered, obviously annoyed at her. Not because of the kunai, of course. _Stop disturbing my meditation,_ he glared meaningfully at her. She laughed it off.

"Well you do have those Hyuuga eyes, so maybe you're even better than the weather guy?", Tenten answers cheekily back at him. Her tone is playful, but her eyes betrays her facade.

Neji understood. He always did. He stood up from his sitting position and walked to her side, before sitting back down gracefully next to her.

"No. I think when the war starts tomorrow, it will be clear.", He shot her another look. _Stop worrying._

She sighed and leaned back on the tree. Tomorrow the war will start, and she doesn't know what will happen, or when they would be able to enjoy another peaceful time like this.

"Hey, what are the chances we're going to be alive after all this ends?", she asked the question that has been brewing inside her head for months now…and she knows that even Hyuuga Neji, with his smart brain and those Byakugan could answer this.

Neji silently took her hand in his, and his other hand crept up slowly towards her face. Slowly, he tucked a stray hair behind her ear and dropping his fingers to hold her chin.

"Look at me, Tenten.", he commanded her to, but his tone was so gentle, so soft that she never thought it could ever come from someone as cold as Hyuuga Neji. And so she complied.

"When this war is over, we will train here again. Maybe Lee will join us if Gai-sensei wasn't busy with him. But we will be here, like always.", he answered her questions and does his best to cast away her fears.

It does.

Because soon Tenten smiled, and laughed, and hold his hand just a little bit tighter. Neji realized this too, and soon they're back to their routine.

If he said everything will be okay, then why should she worries?

* * *

She was 19, and she is lost.

* * *

She felt it before she heard about it. The dumb genius has struck himself with a giant wooden stake. Apparently, he had died doing so.

What. The. Fuck.

Years of training and practicing the perfect defense. All those times spent together, trying different methods, and finally doing it correctly until all she could see when he did the Kaiten was a giant, beautiful, blue sphere. They did that. They perfected it. Or so she thought.

Apparently, it's still not perfect enough for a Hyuuga Neji, since he couldn't use the fucking thing to deflect the stake.

 _Really, you thought a genius would think better than using himself as a human cushion._ , she cursed silently. Tenten let the anger rolled in her, burning everything in her system and making her moves even more dangerous for the enemy. A slash here, a punch there. Another enemy's blood on her hands. Still, it's not enough.

 _Let's practice together again after the war,_ she furrowed her brows after that thought passed, _what a load of bullshit._

Neji has died, and now there's no reason for her to return from the war.

For so long, he had been her compass. The only one who she would go back to after everything because she knew that he would always be there. That's why she would always place her aim on him, and Tenten never miss. She always returns to him.

But now he is somewhere she couldn't reach. Like a boat without an anchor, she lets the waves toss her around. Tenten lets herself get carried away with the war, killing more than all of her other comrades.

 _I guess being lost is better than returning to nothing._

Another strike to the gut, and another dead body. It's still not enough.

* * *

She was 47, but they're young.

* * *

She passed away gracefully, on another battlefield. When her opponent sliced her with a chakra infused blade that slice through her heart, she smiled through the pain that suddenly pierced her very being. She accepted death peacefully, and it feels as if one is greeting an old friend. She closes her eyes and she distantly hears Lee shouting her name. _See you, Lee,_ she muses one last time before all coherent thought left her mind.

Then she woke up, and everything seems like that night before the war. It feels like she's 18 again. She frantically searches around, eyes darting from one point to the other because if she is 18 then he is alive. Her eyes scanned between treetops, and now more than ever she wishes that she has Neji's eyes.

Until she found him, smiling amusedly at her right by her side all along.

"Glad you made it.", he greeted.

Tenten stared, suddenly unsure where to proceed from here. She doesn't know how time goes in this world, but 39 years is a long time for humans. What are they now? Where do they stand? Does decisions in the living world matter even in this place? Wha-

He has slipped his hand under hers.

And Neji, the stoic, insufferable, cold Neji….flashed a sincere smile at her.

Peace. Finally, she is at peace. She smiled back and tangled their fingers together, feeling at ease with herself.

They could think about all that later on, or maybe they would not need to anyway. They're 18 and they are young.

They have all the time in this world.


End file.
